The present invention relates to cooling systems for computers. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method and apparatus for testing cooling systems utilized in computers.
Computer technology has been increasing in complexity, density, speed and processing power for many years. Presently, the power of computers is essentially doubling every eighteen months. A consequence of this trend is that the dissipation of the heat generated by these computers has increasingly become a problem. It is recognized that as the computers' heat load and heat density increases, the cooling becomes increasingly critical to the proper operation of the computers. With the increasing need to cool the computers (to dissipate this heat) various cooling schemes such as passive convection, chilled cooling water and refrigeration have been developed for computers. Moreover, cooling is not just a way of extending the lifetime and reliability of the components of the computer, but is a requirement of proper operation in certain large computer systems, as without proper cooling certain logic operations in these large computer systems will immediately cease to function. Thus, the need for higher capacity and higher reliability cooling systems for computers.